Saving Blarney Hills
by Maimi C
Summary: Warren, full of regret for not being able aiding his friend, decides to look a little deeper into situation. Reminisence is abound when he digs through her old belongings.
1. Chapter 1

After reading Fablehaven I was compelled to write a fanfic. Gotta give thanks to Brandon Mull for the books and the ideas. I do not own many of the concepts, creatures, people or places in this story, but I did come up with a few things.

The story begins after the third book, "The Cruse of the Shadow Plague" and is alternate universe. Neat little intro I hope you enjoy! Also, FYI I may be changing the name, mostly because I have no idea where I'm going with this... ::Shrugs::

*****

The car finally stopped as it pulled up to the castle that was the home of the caretaker for Blarney Hills. The early spring air was chilly as Warren climbed out of the car. At the door stood a young woman, long tresses of red hair fell in curls around her shoulders. Hiding behind her knee was a tiny carbon copy. A little girl with freckles dotting her face as she peaked out at the coming travellors.

"Welcome back, Warren," the woman greet as she came out to help him with his stuff, "it's been awhile, where have you been hiding yourself?"

"Tess, don't worry about these, I've got them," he said taking his other bag from her, "I've been alright, was feeling a bit under the weather not too long ago, but I'm back on my feet and in motion."

"Well, that's really the most important thing," she said smiling, her thick Irish accent filling every word, "Ella, you remember Warren?"

The little girl hid further behind her mother's skirt, hiding all but her eyes as she pulled the fabric over her nose.

"You've gotten so big," Warren said, "last time I saw you, you were this big." Warren held his hands out to the size of an infant.

Ella didn't say anything, she simply hid behind her mother as she blushed.

"Well, let me show you to your room," Tess said as she turned to lead him into the castle, "Dougan arrived yesterday. We'll be waiting for you in the study when you've settled in."

"Thanks," he said walking through the doorway of a guest room, "I won't be long."

Tess nodded, "take all the time you need. It's quite a task we have ahead."

"Thanks."

Warren quickly unpacked a few things enough to feel settled in, and then headed to the study to get a little more information on the issue at hand. When he entered, Dougan sat in one of the few large chairs near the desk, Warren nodded a greeting and seated himself in the chair next to him.

"I want to thank you for coming," Tess began when she entered, she made her way to the back side of the desk and sat down, "we have all been under great duress these last few months after the Sphinx was revealed to be a traitor. And in light of such news I am asking your assistance in a matter."

They waited silently as Tess found what she had to say next hard to say. Finally she found how she wanted to express it to them.

"A very dear friend of ours, has been put in a very peculiar situation," she paused, "Emily Thatcher was assisting with the attack that befell the Blarney Hills only a few years ago. But when the fighting was over, she was afflicted with a peculiar condition. And the Sphinx labeled her a traitor." She took in a long heavy breath, adjusting herself in the chair, "since we had never doubted the Sphinx and had never been given a reason to doubt him, we followed his orders. She's been locked up in the dungeon since that day. The Sphinx returned many times to try and coerce information from her, but he was never able to succeed in his goals.

"I'm asking you, begging you to assist me in declaring her innocence. Please help me prove that she's been loyal. And if you can prove that she really has betrayed us, then I will keep her locked away," there was a moment of silence.

"How do we do that?" Dougan asked.

"The condition I mentioned before, is not one we've ever seen before," Tess continued, "somehow, Emily merged with a dragon on the reserve. The question is whether or not she is Emily, or the dragon."

"How have you been able to keep her locked up?" Dougan asked, "without an advanced device?"

"Well, it does seem a little primitive," Tess said thoughtfully, "but it does the trick. We've used raw dragonsbane and lined the inside of her shackles with it."

"We understand," Dougan told her, "we'll see what we can do."

"Thank you, Dougan," she said sincerely, "I suppose you'll be wanting to see her then." She stood and retrieved a keyring from her pocket, keys jingling as she moved. They followed her slowly to the back of the castle and waited for her to unlock the door to the basement and inevitably the dungeon.

Walking slowly, as if with hesitation, they made their way, more then thirty feet into the ground taking two flights to get there. There was only one door at the end of the stairs, none on the way down, stone everywhere you turned.

Tess took her time, slowly turning the key in the lock as if hesitating, her keys jingled more as they walked down a corridor and stopped at a T. Tess turned left, and the men followed.

The maze of tunnels was extensive, and the majority of the cells had occupants, angry occupants. There was lots of noise, and it was hard to pay attention as they navigated quickly through the many twists and turns.

"This dungeon is unlike any other," Tess told them, "it branches off in all directions and each cell is specifically designed for different kinds of occupants. For instance, we would not lock up an imp in a cell meant for an ogre, or the other way around."

Quiet fell on the dungeon the deeper they went. Tess pulled a specific key from the ring and inserted it into the door. Opening it, she waved her hand, indicating that they go in.

"I have to remain outside the cell," Tess informed, "that way I can be sure if something happens she can't escape."

"We understand," Dougan said as he walked into the dungeon, Warren fell quietly in step behind him. They heard the door shut behind them.

A woman lay sprawled across the floor, on her stomach, her head resting on her arms, facing the wall. Her long dark hair was grungy from lack of proper hygiene and her clothes were old and covered in dirt. The cell was large, enough to accommodate a full grown dragon and then some. There was no bed, no bench, in fact no furniture at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for all the positive reviews! I love to hear that sort of thing. I too was surprised that there were no Fablehaven stories yet, it's such a great series. Fablehaven is not mine, and sadly neither is Warren... I digress. Let's get this rolling...

Authors note: Chapter one was not forced, it was rushed. I had written a chapter and uploaded it, decided I didn't like it and rushed to put something I liked more, up.

*****

Emily had heard the sound of people entering into the dungeon before the lock even clicked in the entrance. But by now she'd learned to block out those noises, if nothing else ignore them. This time, though the tour lasted longer then the normal. She sighed, wondering if the Sphinx was back for another round of 'where's the hidden reserve.'

Low light cast upon the walls of her cell as the visitors drew near, she could smell them. Tess, and two males of unfamiliar scent. The keys jingled in the door.

They spoke of her trying to escape and she considered laughing. A response from one of the men, a familiar voice.

Emily searched her mind, but after three and a half years of nearly complete silence she couldn't place him.

The lock clicked again and she could feel their eyes watching her, inspecting her.

She pushed herself up onto her palms, turning her head to look at her visitors, causing her shackles to clink together as she moved, the plates of metal encompassing her forearms, lined with poison, were cumbersome to her movement. Her dark hair hid her face mostly from their eyes, but as she looked upon Dougan she was sure she'd seen him before, but where? He was tall, red hair and freckles donned his face. She narrowed her eyes, trying to place him.

"Lieutenant," she greeted after a moment, her voice raspy from lack of talking.

"Emily," she received a nod from him.

Her eyes slowly moved to Warren and she didn't need time to figure out who he was. Recognition sparked behind her eyes and an overwhelming sadness filled her. He was tall his dark hair short and his hazel eyes watching her, he wore his leather jacket and his chin had the look of a man who hadn't shaved in the last couple of days. She didn't greet him, instead she returned to her laying position facing the wall.

The men exchanged looks.

She understood why she hadn't recognized their scents, the gift of acute sense of smell, sight, hearing, were all gifts acquired through the merging process with the dragon Kismet She had also given her one more thing, a thing that clouded her mind. Memories, fifteen hundred years worth of memories that were not her own, clouding her real memories. At times it made her doubt if she were really human or dragon. But all she had to do was to look at herself and she remembered who she was.

Tense silence fell on the cell and she waited for them to say something, it didn't take long.

"How long has she been like this?" Dougan asked Tess through the door.

"Little more then three and a half years."

"One thousand two hundred and sixty-seven days," Emily's voice was a little stronger this time.

"She keeps time strangely well," Tess informed, "there is no light down this far, she must be able to keep time internally."

Emily moved fast, her motion swift, only the clanking of her shackles could be heard. She'd repositioned herself, now leaning against the wall and facing them, her steel blue eyes staring through them blankly.

"So, was the Sphinx tired of coming himself?" she asked after clearing her throat, "or is this some new tactic?"

"Emily," Dougan said earnestly, "we're here to help you."

She scoffed.

"The Sphinx has proven to be a traitor," he added, "he admitted it and then disappeared without a trace. We're trying to exonerate you."

"Big surprise there," she said harshly.

"We were all fooled by him," Dougan said, "but there is still a matter of whether you're really you, or if you're the dragon."

"You ask me to prove the impossible," she nearly laughed, then her voice grew low and almost tired, "sometimes I'm not sure, myself. How can you expect me to prove to you that I am Emily if I can't even be sure that I'm not Kismet?"

When she spoke, she looked past Dougan, but never changed the direction of her gaze, purposely avoiding looking in Warren's direction. They were quite a distance away from her, at what they hoped would give them a buffer time to react if she tried something.

"You asked if the Sphinx had changed tactics or grown tired of coming here himself," Warren said watching her, waiting for her eyes to shift to him. They never did. "What was he doing? When he came here, I mean."

"He wanted information from Kismet," she said, she caught herself before she turned her eyes to him, his voice inviting as always, she could feel a tightening in her chest, she tried to ignore it, "knowledge of the location of the fifth hidden preserve."

"The dragon possessed that kind of knowledge?" Dougan interrupted surprised.

The faintest smile crossed her face, a knowing look and for just a moment she met his gaze, looking at him, for only a second. Then the smile was gone and her gaze was in the distance behind him again.

"How are you able to access that kind of information?" Warren asked.

"Actually, its harder to decipher which memories are actually mine, then how to remember certain things," she told them, "the easiest ones to figure out are the more recent ones, like how the only three people I've seen in the last three and a half years are Tess, the Sphinx and his chauffeur." her voice had a bitter edge to it.

"Emily, I'm sorry," Dougan said, his words genuine, "a lot of things have happened. Several reserves have fallen in that time and we have all been busy trying to keep the magical world together."

Her quiet laughter was bitter and tight. "So, you came here to ask me where the last hidden reserve is?" she paused, then returned to the floor, "if that's all you came here for, you're waisting your time, as well as mine. Please go, I have a whole lot more of nothing to return to."

"I think that's all you're going to get for now," Tess said unlocking the door again and letting them out.

They walked in silence to the entrance and returned to the study. Warren practically fell into his chair, his expression unreadable. Dougan regarded him with an almost pitiful look and sat down in the accompanying chair. Tess shut the door behind her and sat down at her desk, for a moment she didn't look at them for a moment.

"She's lost weight," Warren observed, breaking the silence, "is that caused by the dragonsbane?"

"Actually," Tess said, still not looking up, "she's tried to starve herself to death."

Warren's eyes flickered with anger for a brief second.

"There's no need to worry, though," Tess said calmly, "she started that when she was first put in there. I was concerned at first, but after she stopped loosing weight I realized that starvation would not be her end."

"That's quite strange," Dougan said scratching his jaw, "must have something to do with the dragon's magic."

"I agree," Tess nodded, "I've been wondering about that myself."

"How did this happen?" Warren asked, he was trying not to let his mixed emotions show on his face.

"That;s a long story," Tess said then sighed, "but I'd be better off getting it out of the way before we get too far into this."

Dougan and Warren waited quietly.

"It was the summer solstice, we'd prepared everything to the T," Tess began, "there was no way anything could've gotten into the castle uninvited. The few people on staff know not to do things that would compromise the castle on those nights, so I don't understand how it happened.

"Sometime around two in the morning I was awoken by Ella's screams. When I rushed out into the hall I found a goblin carrying her away. She was still an infant," Tess added, "but she understood that there was danger. Emily came flying down the stairs, it happened so fast, I'm ashamed to say that I did nothing but stand there dumbfounded. She quickly disposed of the creature, putting Ella in my arms and locking me into the bedroom.

"The next morning she had not returned, and I feared the worst. But as I stepped out into the yard to begin the cleanup, I was overcome by fear and stood petrified as a dragon of silver descended into the yard. After a moment she transformed into Emily, she did not stand long, I rushed over to help her, but I couldn't wrap my mind around what I had just seen."

"So, at some point on that night she met up with the dragon and gained its power?" Dougan asked skeptically.

"Well, I was confused at first, I couldn't put things together," Tess confessed, "Emily remained unconscious for several days. I turned to the Sphinx, and he came to evaluate her condition, I had hoped that he would help. But I know now that he did nothing but force me to imprison one of my friends."

"Why not simply let her go?" Warren asked.

"Well, I would," Tess said hesitantly, "however, several things are still unclear about what happened. For instance, how did the creatures get into the house, and how did she gain that power? Is she really Emily, or is it the trickery of the dragon? I hope you understand my dilemma."

Warren nodded. He looked uneasy and weighed down by something.

"I think it's our responsibility to help her," Dougan said, "after all, we are the people she most depended on to come to her aid back then, and we all failed her."

"Thank you," Tess said quietly, eagerness obvious in her tone.


	3. Chapter 3

As always, I don't own Fablehaven, I have to give credit to Brandon Mull for all things in that department. I like to steal and twist and manipulate until it's my own, which I am doing.

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!

*****

The evening had closed in on Blarney Hills, coloring the sky with beautiful shades of reds, pinks and lavenders. Warren had gone out to the yard, the last time he'd been there had been a little more then four years ago. The preserve seemed the same, the people the same, even the sky was the same. But back then, he had arrived happy, eager to meet up with Emily.

Back then, they had shared something. He understood her refusal to look at him, to meet his eyes, and he was secretly thankful. But at the same time he wished he could tell her the truth. He hadn't known, they had been know to loose contact for months at a time while on missions. It hadn't occurred to him that she might actually be locked away.

The thought sent butterflies through his stomach, the kind that eventually eat you alive. His guilt felt unbearable and still he wasn't sure if that really was the Emily he knew. He couldn't be sure, no one could be. Save maybe a dragon tamer.

The thought had already been raised, Dougan knew of only one tamer under his command was Gavin, but the boy was off on a more important mission for the Knights of the Dawn. Warren speculated it was in regards to another artifact, likely the one in Australia, or maybe he was needed to verify if the Sphinx had taken the one in Brazil. So, short one dragon tamer, he had no idea how to solve the problem.

He sat down in the grass and stared off into the trees, he thought about the last time he'd seen her. Her then, honey brown eyes had held his stare, her skin was soft and pale with a kiss of sun, and her hair was a dark blond that stopped in layers just past her shoulders. She looked nothing like the woman in the dungeon, but she was the same.

A small smile crept onto his face as he remembered how she looked at him, her mischievous smiles, and her passionate eyes.

But Emily had changed while he was gone, partially on missions, partially in the catatonic state he'd been in for just over two years. Even though he could legitimately pass it off as a simple mistake and bad timing, his conscience wouldn't let him.

He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands, and scratching his stubbly cheek. How would he be able to help her prove that she is really her? Anything that Emily would know, the dragon would easily be able to imitate and act through. A creature as suave as a dragon would have no problem fooling them into believing it to be Emily, when it was not.

Tess had said that Emily had tried to tell them what happened, but the sphinx would not allow it, he questioned her in private and when Emily had openly accused him, he'd turned it against her. Stating that she was trying to draw eyes away from herself, that the dragon was controlling her.

Emily had been placed in the dungeon under that man's orders, writing her off as devious beast. A creature that the laws of the preserve could not contain. He'd also been the one to suggest the dragonsbane, knowing that a human's skin is extra absorbent and it would soak up the poison, preventing her from using any of her abilities as a dragon.

*****

"I didn't touch anything," Tess informed Warren, "I felt so guilty about what had happened, and I still had doubt, that I didn't want to disturb her things."

The room Emily had stayed in while she'd been there before. The bonus side to having a castle at your disposal, so many rooms that you didn't really worry about making arrangements to accommodate. And it had come in handy in Emily's case, at least her things were somewhere they could be inspected.

"Thank you, Tess," he said entering the room, he soon found himself, thankfully, alone.

It looked like many of the spare rooms at first glance, standard dark blue curtains matching sheets, with a celtic knot-work comforter. The sheets had been tossed back as if in a rush, a book lay opened to a page, face down on the nightstand.

Warren picked it up. "Detecting and Eliminating Nisses." He shook his head and closed the book, tossing it onto the nightstand, but he'd thrown it too hard and it slid off between the bed and the stand. He reached down to grab it, finding that it had landed on a second book, he pulled them both from the eternal hiding place. Setting the book on Nisses onto the nightstand again he examined the other.

Plain black unfinished leather cover and binding. He opened it, finding it more then halfway filled with Emily's graceful looping script. A journal. The first entry was from the Eighth of February, he assumed the year her current condition occurred in.

Details of many of her trips into the woods could be found, describing the different routes she took and the creatures she saw. Her notes were greatly detailed, she wrote down every detail she'd seen of each creature, from color and spots to the sounds they made and the paths they traveled. She defined which creatures were sentient and which ones were defined as whirligigs.

He resolved to take the book with him, and decided to investigate the room a little more. He closed the book and stood up, something fell from the pages of the journal.

As he bent down to pick them up he couldn't help but smile, the three pictures that had been tucked away were familiar to him. One was of her parents, both of whom died several years ago, one was of Warren and one was the two of them.

The last photo made his smile broaden, it had been taken on their return from one of Emily's first missions, they had made quick friends, And on the ride back on the train someone, a local kid trying to make extra cash, snapped their picture while they'd been asleep.

He'd secretly sneaked it into her bag before they departed company. Several years had passed since then, she'd been a teenager, green and new. They'd worked together many times after that trip and each time had been another adventure.

But so many things had changed. His smile faded into a a sad stare as he thought about it. He wondered if she was still in there, if she'd ever forgive him for not coming to her aid sooner. But most of all, he was worried that she was already gone.

He slowly left the room, shutting the light off as he left.


End file.
